08-30-2014
• http://www.zerohedge.com, by Igor Alexeev
The provisions of the law would permit the transit of natural gas to be blocked.
This decision may hurt the fragile industrial recovery in Germany and
finish off Ukraine's potential as a gas transit route to Europe.

Germany, which is the industrial heart of the European Union and a major
creditor for its debtor nations, is facing the challenge of the double-edged
consequences of its inverted
Ostpolitik as it pertains to the trade in natural gas. Even the
temporary transit risks ensuing from Kiev's decision to block the pipeline may
cause a business slump.

The Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz offered
an unnerving forecast for the German economy. The Columbia University professor,
speaking at the conference in the southern German city of Lindau, described
economic growth in the Eurozone as "sluggish." The German economy in particular
failed to grow during the second quarter, threatening the EU's fragile
industrial recovery.